Betty Boop

The economy is in the dumps but theatrical producers continue to dream big. Ostar Productions said this week that it was planning a Broadway musical based on the 1930s cartoon character Betty Boop. Intended for the 2010-11 season, it will feature music by Grammy-winner David Foster and a book by Sally Robinson and Oscar Williams. Meanwhile, in London, producer Franz Abraham unveiled plans for a theatrical production based on "Ben-Hur" -- complete with the chariot race. Too big for a conventional theater, it is scheduled to play the O2 arena there next September.

The economy is in the dumps but theatrical producers continue to dream big. Ostar Productions said this week that it was planning a Broadway musical based on the 1930s cartoon character Betty Boop. Intended for the 2010-11 season, it will feature music by Grammy-winner David Foster and a book by Sally Robinson and Oscar Williams. Meanwhile, in London, producer Franz Abraham unveiled plans for a theatrical production based on "Ben-Hur" -- complete with the chariot race. Too big for a conventional theater, it is scheduled to play the O2 arena there next September.

"Betty Boop Confidential," a new compilation of clips from cartoons of the beloved Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl, will screen Aug. 7 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. The clips, to be released by Kit Parker Films, will benefit the animation preservation projects of the International Animated Film Society. Proceeds will be donated to the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

Myron Waldman, 97, an animator who helped draw Betty Boop, Casper, Popeye and Raggedy Ann and Andy, and originated Boop's sidekick -- a dog named Pudgy -- died of congestive heart failure Saturday at a hospital in Bethpage, N.Y. A graduate of New York's Pratt Institute, he was hired in 1930 as an inker at Max Fleischer Studios. Four years later, Waldman was head animator and was drawing many of the studio's classic characters as well as the original Superman cartoon series.

Mae Questel, 89, the voice of cartoon heroines Betty Boop and Olive Oyl. Most recently seen as Woody Allen's mother in the 1989 motion picture "New York Stories," the actress was 17 when she won a contest to find a look-alike for Helen Kane, a singer then known as the boop-oop-a-doop queen. Questel imitated the singer in vaudeville shows, soon adding imitations of Maurice Chevalier, Fanny Brice, Rudy Vallee and Marlene Dietrich.

The siren call of the infamous saucer-eyed cartoon seductress will be heard Saturday in Montebello at the eighth annual Betty Boop Festival. The festival features a Boop collectors swap meet, including free appraisals of pre-1975 Betty Boop memorabilia, and honors for those wearing the most Boop-inspired clothing and trinkets. A contest, open to girls under 5, will judge the best Baby Boop and another will select the best Boop tattoo. Festivities are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Myron (Grim) Natwick, the creator of the popular 60-year-old cartoon heroine Betty Boop, has died. He was 100. Natwick died Sunday at Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center of pneumonia and heart disease. "Although she was never vulgar or obscene, Betty was a suggestion you could spell in three letters: S-E-X," Natwick said of her enduring popularity in a Times interview earlier this year. "She was all girl."

Myron (Grim) Natwick, the creator of the popular cartoon heroine Betty Boop, has died. He was 100. Natwick died Sunday at Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center of pneumonia and heart disease. "Although she was never vulgar or obscene, Betty was a suggestion you could spell in three letters: S-E-X," Natwick said of her 60-year popularity in a Times interview earlier this year. "She was all girl."

Myron Waldman, 97, an animator who helped draw Betty Boop, Casper, Popeye and Raggedy Ann and Andy, and originated Boop's sidekick -- a dog named Pudgy -- died of congestive heart failure Saturday at a hospital in Bethpage, N.Y. A graduate of New York's Pratt Institute, he was hired in 1930 as an inker at Max Fleischer Studios. Four years later, Waldman was head animator and was drawing many of the studio's classic characters as well as the original Superman cartoon series.

Thirty-four years ago, Congress blamed certain comic books for the antisocial behavior of America's restless youth. Today, cartoons are inspiring movies, rock music and even adult fashion. Some new looks in casual wear tout the colorful, vibrant images of pulp literature, in sizes to fit grown-ups who still want to play superhero. No doubt Batman is behind the trend. With the release of the movie just three weeks away, the image of the dark-caped crusader seems to be multiplying.

Celine Obeso is in fine form. The 3-year-old blows a one-handed kiss, a two-handed kiss, and then stuns the competition with a rousing "Boop-Boop-A-Doop." Under a blazing California sun in early July, she and dozens of other girls take the stage in Montebello. Dressed in garter belts and red satin dresses, feathers and pillbox hats, they compete in what is probably the world's only annual "Baby Betty Boop Look-A-Like" contest.

Mae Questel, 89, the voice of cartoon heroines Betty Boop and Olive Oyl. Most recently seen as Woody Allen's mother in the 1989 motion picture "New York Stories," the actress was 17 when she won a contest to find a look-alike for Helen Kane, a singer then known as the boop-oop-a-doop queen. Questel imitated the singer in vaudeville shows, soon adding imitations of Maurice Chevalier, Fanny Brice, Rudy Vallee and Marlene Dietrich.

Video Shiloh. Warner Family Entertainment. 93 minutes. $19.98. If you missed the very brief feature run of this quality boy-and-his-dog family film, you may want to catch it now on video. Based on Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Newbury Award-winning book, the touching film stars Blake Heron as Marty, a boy with a strong sense of right and wrong, who passionately struggles against adult opposition to rescue a young beagle from his abusive hunter owner.

January 5, 1997 | Kenneth Turan, Kenneth Turan is The Times' film critic

Animation is about lines that move, and they have never moved with as much invention, imagination and just plain fun as they did when they came from the Fleischer Studios. Beginning in the silent era and staying afloat a bit more than 20 years until the studio closed in 1942, brothers Max and Dave Fleischer and their brand of hilarious and surreal irreverence gave the gang at Disney some serious competition.

"Betty Boop Confidential," a new compilation of clips from cartoons of the beloved Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl, will screen Aug. 7 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. The clips, to be released by Kit Parker Films, will benefit the animation preservation projects of the International Animated Film Society. Proceeds will be donated to the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

She's five stories tall and her fashionable figure is 34x24x36--feet that is. No, it's not the female version of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man; it's Betty Boop, the newest balloon in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. She will be the lead balloon but she will not be alone.

Celine Obeso is in fine form. The 3-year-old blows a one-handed kiss, a two-handed kiss, and then stuns the competition with a rousing "Boop-Boop-A-Doop." Under a blazing California sun in early July, she and dozens of other girls take the stage in Montebello. Dressed in garter belts and red satin dresses, feathers and pillbox hats, they compete in what is probably the world's only annual "Baby Betty Boop Look-A-Like" contest.

Drawing from the patterned skins of exotic African creatures, crystal design artist Kjell Engman answers the call of the wild with his interpretation of the skins on candlesticks, vases, bowls, mugs and bottles. The new Safari series from Kosta Boda is meant to bring a little of life on the wild side into the often restrained world of crystal design. Pieces in the series, which are handblown, have pigment powders added to the glass to create the pattern and cost from $125 to $475.

Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes, charming and believably athletic, are the Laurel and Hardy of the half-court game, a couple of champs at pick-up basketball. Graced with good humor comic energy, they overcome sizable script problems and turn Ron Shelton's 1992 film into a sassy and profane urban fairy tale that finds laughs in some very clever places. As Harrelson's "Jeopardy!" junkie girlfriend, Rosie Perez emerges as a screen original.